12 Responses to “Coyne Destroys Chopra”

I regularly write articles and books co-authored by full professors, researchers and scientists at Harvard Medical School, Mount Sinai Medical School – New York, Duke, and Chapman University.”

This quote really displays Chopra’s lack of understanding of what science is. He appears to think his books are “science” simply because (with for example his new book Super Brain, which admittedly doesn’t look as bad on the surface as Quantum Healing) he takes the work of others and adds his quantum consciousness mind-brain duality on top, co-authored with a seemingly legitimate Harvard Medical School researcher, and BOOM he just did science! He takes what we already know about brain plasticity and Alzheimer’s, and by the power of Oprah, will make more money from the books 1st run than Norman Doidge has in 6 years. Not to mention the book doesn’t even have a bibliography; science really is Theology in his worldview.

Chopra’s audience is not the skeptical community or research scientists. The general public and a large proportion of health care professionals not involved in research, do not have a good understanding of how science works. With this reality all he has to do is make claims in a grammatically consistent manner. He can even call his assertions “theories” and rely on confusion to carry the day. Sadly when it comes to cash flow he wins.

I just checked that out. It’s funny, but it makes me feel a little bad for Jordan. He’s suffering from some bad mentoring here, as I don’t think he really understands the underlying arguments. He’s thrown into the debate head first and taking shots that should be reserved for the likes of Chopra and Sheldrake, who should know better.

I think it would be better for him to have these debates in relative anonymity on a blog while he’s getting training. Chopra should understand this, but I really think he’s kind of a jerk.

Pantheists talk a big game, about being connected to the “God energy” or “Source of Being” or “God consciousness” etc – but they can’t deliver. When Michael Faraday taught us about electromagnetism he had something demonstrable, testable, verifiable, something that delivered, that worked. Pantheists make huge claims about what you can do with your “imagination” in tune with this “God energy”. Fact is, Chopra using his imagination cannot even recharge a single mobile phone. I’ll stick with Faraday.

I also feel a bit sorry for Jordan. But he is an adult, and is co-writing those articles that are specifically going after science, scientists and skeptics. Including the most recent one in the link provided by Kensington. Here is what he says about Dawkins:

Despite a fifteen-minute TED talk on quantum physics, he seems totally ignorant of current theories of perception, consciousness, the mind-body problem, or the observer effect, all of which grew out of the quantum revolution a century ago. In a word, he has made himself irrelevant by his crude linkage of his personal atheism and a fumbling defense of “real” science that was outmoded long ago.

I think I have posted this before, but if you ever get tired of Chopra’s BS it is quite amusing to hear the howls of laughter from the audience when he spouts his garbage in a room full of educated people:

“But he is an adult, and is co-writing those articles that are specifically going after science, scientists and skeptics. ”

Oh yeah, he’s saying the worst sort of nonsense. But why is Chopra putting him out there like this? MAybe it’s unlikely, but he might be able to see his errors in a less charged and public environment.

It may not have been about science, but I had a lot of beliefs when I was 23 that I was disavowed of. I’m glad there’s no public record of that!

The thing about Chopra is that he will never, ever, ‘understand’ that his twaddle is, well, twaddle. And he will never stop projectile-vomiting his stream-of-consciousness crap-fountain, so long as there’s a glass-eyed mark willing to pay to get covered in the filthy muck.

The comments on that New Republic article are fascinating. Really made my morning cup of tea. The “what’s the harm, let us all live in peace and harmony and everyone can be right” people are the funniest of all.